


Underneath the Tree

by iam93percentstardust



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Domestic Bliss, Established Relationship, M/M, Slice of Life, very minor angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:21:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27993672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iam93percentstardust/pseuds/iam93percentstardust
Summary: “I don’t see why we have to wait until December to start decorating the tree,” Tony grumbles as he hangs an ornament. “Santa came down 34th Street, that counts as the start of the Christmas season, so I should have been allowed to start decorating then.”Steve leans over and lays a smacking kiss against his boyfriend’s head. Tony grumbles again, trying to bat him away, but he’s about as weak as a kitten compared to Steve so it doesn’t work. “Because,” Steve says, “You love me andIdon’t like to celebrate Christmas until the beginning of December. You’re making me happy.”
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 11
Kudos: 167





	Underneath the Tree

“I don’t see why we have to wait until December to start decorating the tree,” Tony grumbles as he hangs an ornament. “Santa came down 34th Street, that counts as the start of the Christmas season, so I should have been allowed to start decorating then.”

Steve leans over and lays a smacking kiss against his boyfriend’s head. Tony grumbles again, trying to bat him away, but he’s about as weak as a kitten compared to Steve so it doesn’t work. “Because,” Steve says, “You love me and _I_ don’t like to celebrate Christmas until the beginning of December. You’re making me happy.”

“Harrumph.”

“Oh come on, sweetheart, don’t be such a Grinch.”

Tony gasps in mock outrage. “How dare you call _me_ a Grinch?” he exclaims. “I have been celebrating this holiday for a week!”

Steve glances down at his obnoxious jingle bell slippers and the light-up ugly holiday sweater (one of several that Tony owns). Tony has worn the jingle bell slippers ever since Thanksgiving and has had a different sweater every single day for the last week. If Tony celebrates Christmas by being loud and out there, he’s certainly succeeding.

“You certainly have been,” he mutters.

Steve just doesn’t get it. It’s not that he _hates_ Christmas. It’s just that, growing up, Christmas was never that big of a deal for him and his ma. They had never had enough money to throw a whole big celebration. Often, they hadn’t even had enough for a tree, just for a present or two to give each other. He’d never done anything like the big Christmases that Tony talks fondly about when he’s telling Steve stories about his parents. And these days, Christmas just seems so—so _commercialized_ that it’s hard to get excited about the holiday.

But Tony loves it, and Steve loves Tony, so he puts up with the smell of gingerbread permeating their floor of the tower from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, and he puts up with the jingle bell slippers and ugly sweaters, and he puts up with the Christmas carols that Tony sings, off-key as they may be.

And when it gets to be too much, during Hanukkah, he can go join Bucky on his floor. Bucky’s Hanukkah celebration tends to be much quieter than Tony’s Christmas one.

He passes another ornament to Tony, who studies the tree carefully to select the best place for the ornament to hang. Steve had tried to help him earlier but Tony apparently has a vision of how he wants the tree to look, and Steve’s vision must not line up with Tony’s because he’d only hung one ornament before Tony had shooed him away.

He takes a look at the ornaments still in the box and frowns at them. The Starks had had a tradition: every year, they gave each other a new ornament, something to commemorate the year or celebrate something that had happened to them or just something that they thought the other would like. So Tony’s ornaments are a mishmash of Hallmark Keepsakes and MIT memorabilia and Iron Man figurines, with a few actual Christmassy ornaments thrown in here and there. It’s a big change from the paper stars and Ma’s old Nativity set that Steve had grown up with.

“You don’t have to do this,” Tony says suddenly, voice very quiet.

When Steve looks back at him, even Tony’s loud sweater looks muted. His boyfriend is shrinking in on himself, making himself look as small as possible. “What—” he starts to say.

“This.” Tony waves a hand at the tree. “Help me decorate. I know you don’t like this holiday as much as I do and I don’t want to make you do something you don’t want to.”

“Tony—”

“I can decorate by myself, it’s okay.”

Part of Steve—the part that’s tired of Mariah Carey and Wham!—wants to take the out Tony is giving him. He would like nothing more than to go downstairs and join Bucky or head to the gym for a couple hours. But one look at the tired, crestfallen expression that Tony is trying to hide is enough to convince him that this is right where he wants to be.

He passes Tony another ornament and says simply, “I’m good.”

“You’re good?” Tony sounds both suspicious and hopeful, making Steve wince. He hadn’t realized Tony had picked up on how tired he is of all things Christmas.

“Sweetheart, Christmas or no Christmas, there’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here with you.”

He knows it’s the right thing to say when Tony blushes and ducks his head, hiding a smile.

“Hand me another ornament?” Tony asks him, and he does.


End file.
